Pilot Watch 2012

Are you curious about what new genre shows that are cooking for next season. I am. Orders to series usually happens from now up to the middle of May and more likely the closer to the upfront week it gets.

Be warned this article may contain spoilers!

It will be interesting to see how it goes. I like to play a little game to see how right or wrong I am when the decision comes in May. But I don’t want to be too cynical so I am doing my dream lineup so I can bitch about how wrong the real pickup is. What’s your dream lineup?

My Dream Lineup

Adjustment Bureau, The (Syfy)

Beautiful People (NBC)

Untitled Robert Hewitt Wolfe Project (Syfy)

Untitled Dan Fogelman Project (Fox)

Untitled Warehouse 13 H. G. Wells Spin-Off Project (Syfy)

Isabel (NBC)

Stranger Planet (Fox)

666 Park Ave (ABC)

Cloak & Dagger (ABC)

The Eye (ABC)

Untitled Fazekas & Butters Project (CW)

Robots (Comedy Central)

I prefere science fiction with aliens and space travel but there is not much of that in this bunch. I would love to see something that has to do with colonizing space.

666 Park Ave (ABC)

Based on Gabriella Pierce‘s series by the same name. Witches on the upper east side no less according to the books. TV series usually take some liberties. The show is set in a historic apartment building in New York City and centers on the young couple that become its managers. They unwittingly begin to experience supernatural occurrences, which complicate and endanger the lives of everyone in the residence. Could be a mystery of the week kind of show. A drama pilot from writer David Wilcox (Fringe), Warner Bros.

Antichrist (ABC)

Not much is known about this pilot. It is a drama about a young astrophysics student who learns his destiny lies not in science but somewhere between heaven and hell. It will be set in New York City against the backdrop of the Presidential race of 2012. It is supposedly inspired by the latest presidential elections whatever that means.

Arrow (CW)

Smallville fans rejoice as CW makes a revised take on the DC Comics-turned-“Smallville” hero Green Arrow, a.k.a. Oliver Queen, a billionaire who dresses like Robin Hood and uses trick arrows to fight crime. Guggenheim and Kreisberg will pen the teleplay off a story by Berlanti and Guggenheim, which “sets him in a new world with an original story that is not based on the comics.

Beauty & Beast (CW)

Revival of the cult 1987-1990 series that aims to not only modernize and CW-up the love story but also add a procedural twist.

Beast (ABC)

The ABC orders a pilot of B&B a week after CW announced its pilot. The ABC version is from Jonathan Steinberg (Human Target, Jericho) and described as “a fantastical re-imagining of the classic fairy tale set in a mythical, dangerous world wherein a beautiful and tough Princess discovers an unlikely connection with a mysterious beast.”

Beautiful People (NBC)

Android stories seems to be on the rise. In the near future families of mechanical humans exist to service the human population. Everything is okay until some of the mechanicals begins to “awaken”. It centers on the very wealthy Lydia (Frances Conroy) whose late husband founded the firm that makes Mechanicals. James Murray then is set as her son, “a handsome and very successful attorney who’s lived a rich and privileged life but makes a name for himself by publicly suggesting that Mechanicals might have civil rights – a notion that’s largely scoffed at,” with Patrick Heusinger as “a family man employed as a servant in Lydia’s home who is in fact a Mechanical, but after one of his daughters is killed in a car accident, he proves to be ‘defective’ as he’s plagued with forbidden emotions like grief and loss.” This one sounds promising.

Cult (CW)

Silence of the lambs / Seven-esque drama that tracks the investigation of a string of mysterious deaths and disappearances surrounding the show-within-a-show entitled Cult. A bit iffy genrewise

Dracula (NBC)

Like we don’t have enough vampire shows. Tony Krantz and Colin Callender are developing a period drama at the Peacock and its international channels about Bram Stoker’s signature 1890s vampire, billed as “a big, sweeping international soap opera that is young, sexy and supernatural.” Cole Haddon is penning the script for the potential straight-to-series commitment.

Gotham Untitled Michael Green Project (ABC)

After pursuing a seemingly unsolvable case, a female cop discovers a magical world that exists within New York City. A world that goes unseen by normal humans, and takes all of the familiar NY landmarks and reinvents them in a magical otherworldly manner

Intercept (ABC)

Intercept stars Danielle Panabaker (Shark), Austin Butler (Switched At Birth), Chloe Wang (The Nightlife) and Nolan Gerard Funk (“Aliens in America”). Intercept is a one-hour technology and action driven drama about a group of college students who get roped into solving crimes when one of them creates a high-tech communication device that intercepts conversations throughout the West Coast.

Isabel (NBC)

Isabel is a comedy centering on an otherwise normal middle-class family that wrestles with the challenges of everyday life while raising a daughter (Sophia Mitri Schloss, Grimm) who has magical abilities. Abigail Mavity and Skyler Gisondo also star.

Joey Dakota (CW)

Based on the Israeli format Danny Hollywood. In this romantic-time-travel-musical, a documentary filmmaker travels back in time to the 1990’s where she meets and falls in love with the rock star subject of her film. When she unexpectedly returns to present day, she must find her way back to the past to reunite with her love and prevent his untimely death.

Last Resort (ABC)

the crew of a U.S. nuclear submarine who, after ignoring an order to fire nuclear missiles, wind up being hunted and escape to a NATO outpost where they declare themselves to be the world’s smallest nuclear nation.

Midnight Sun (NBC)

Drama which revolves around a police investigation into disappearance of a remote cult that slowly uncovers the darkest secrets of the region and its inhabitants, as well as a grander political conspiracy and environmental disaster from which the cult members are attempting to escape. Genre?

Mockingbird Lane Munsters, The (NBC)

An imaginative reinvention of The Munsters

Revolution (NBC)

Described as a high-octane action drama following a group of characters struggling to survive and reunite with loved ones in a world where all forms of energy have mysteriously ceased to exist. In this epic adventure thriller, a family struggles to reunite in a post-apocalyptic American landscape: a world of empty cities, local militias and heroic freedom fighters, where every single piece of technology — computers, planes, cars, phones, even lights — has mysteriously blacked out … forever.

Rewind (Syfy)

The thriller revolves around a team of military field operatives and civilian scientists who must use untested technology to travel back in time to alter past events in order to change the future and avoid a devastating terrorist attack.

Selection, The (CW)

Based on the forthcoming series of books by Kiera Cass, The Selection is an epic romance set 300 years in the future which centers on a poor young woman who is chosen by lottery to participate in a competition to become the next queen of a war-torn nation at a crossroads.

Untitled Dan Fogelman Project (Fox)

About a family that moves into a highly desirable gated community in New Jersey only to discover that the entire neighborhood is made up of aliens disguised as humans. Gertz is on board as Debbie Weaver, the matriarch of the human family; with Templeman as Wilt Chamberlain, the leader of the aliens; Olagundoye as Jackie Joyner Kersee, the matriarch of the lead alien family; and Jo as Joe Montana, son of the alien family.

Untitled Kevin Williamson Project (CW)

Drama about a diabolical serial killer who uses technology to create a cult of serial killers, and the FBI agent who finds himself in the middle of it.

Zero Hour (ABC)

A bizarre twist of fate pulls a man who’s spent 20 years as the editor of a skeptics magazine into one of the most compelling conspiracies in human history.

Zombies & Cheerleaders (CW)

Disney Channel has ordered the music-driven pilot “Zombies and Cheerleaders.” Production on the pilot begins in December in consideration for a Disney Channel series to premiere in 2012. The story follows Zed Necrodopolis, a typical high school student with one small caveat; he happens to be a zombie. Despite a high-tech wristwatch designed to curb any appetite he may have for his classmates, he and his zombie friends remain unpopular with the school’s most influential group, the pom-pom wielding cheerleaders. Never one to back down from a challenge, Zed sets out to improve zombie student body relations and win the attention of Addison, the cheerleading squad’s newest member.

Scripts

Adjustment Bureau, The (Syfy) – Drama based on the film (based on a short story by Philip K. Dick) of the same name about a secret organization with special powers, which uses them to ensure that people’s lives follow the chairman of the bureau’s plan for them

Afterthought (NBC) – drama about an unconventional team within the FBI that uses the six-hour window between clinical death and cellular death to solve murders by entering the memories of the recently deceased

Cyber Crimes (Fox) – Drama about a techno-phobe female FBI agent is partnered with a witty and handsome hacktivist to solve violent crimes with a cyber component

Cloak & Dagger (ABC) – based on the marvel comic of the same name about tyrone “ty” johnson and tandy bowen, teen runaways in new york city who develop superpowers – he can engulf enemies in darkness, she can emit daggers of light – after being forced to take experimental drugs.

Damned, The (Showtime) – Drama about a cursed man who is stuck in the middle of a turf war in modern-day chicago where mobsters are demons

Dark Tower, The (HBO) – Built on Stephen King’s fantasy series about Roland Deschain, the Gunslinger. It has had an on and off status on the pilot list for some time now.

Dave’s Dead (Fox) – comedy at the network billed as Shaun of the Dead meets My name is Earl.

Deadman (CW) – small screen take on the DC Comics hero, the spirit of a murdered man who lives on as he inhabits other people’s bodies and helps them solve crises in their own lives

End of the World (ABC) – comedy about three brilliant scientists who, after making a shocking discovery, and encouraged by their roguish friend to live their lives to the fullest

Eye, The (ABC) – drama billed as a western with a paranormal twist set in 1871 arizona and centered on a team of pinkerton detectives who search for answers to unexplained phenomena

Ghost Girls (Syfy) – comedy about a self-proclaimed psychic and a tech wiz who together they attempt to solve paranormal mysteries each week while trying to prove to themselves and their customers that they are competent ghost hunters

Ghost Projekt (Syfy) – Based on the popular comic series, a female KGB agent and male American weapons inspector form an unlikely partnership when a deadly force is unwittingly unleashed from a Siberian research facility.

Golddigger (CW) – drama about a young female treasure hunter who tracks down artifacts for a variety of mysterious and interesting clients. Genre?

Last Hope (Showtime) – drama about the last hospital on planet earth.

Magicans (Fox) – drama about a group of 20-somethings in new york who study magic and have access to a magical world

Maybe Angels (CBS) – legal drama about two angels who help their former spouses

Mockingbird (ABC) – drama featuring the marvel comics character

RIP (NBC) – single-camera comedy about a reluctant angel who happens to be an asshole dies and in order to get to heaven is forced to return to earth and help people with the help of his simple minded brother

Robots (Comedy Central) – What if robots attempted to take over the world well before they actually had the ability to do so? This animated show pits a group of household electronics against their slacker owner, Jeff.

Sector, The (Cinemax) – A high-octane action-crime series in the vein of BLADE RUNNER/DISTRICT 9 which tracks the commander of a paramilitary unit who pursues a dangerous new race of genetically-enhanced humans.

Seeing Things (Syfy) – a ghost after his violent death and the only person who can help close his last case is a socially awkward man who realizes that the hallucinations he’s had all his life may not be a figment of his imagination.

Seven Wonders, The (ABC) – drama which tracks an unlikely five-member team as they search the world for seven pieces of an ancient and powerful relic

Sleepers (CBS) – drama about a woman who has the gift to save people who are caught somewhere between life and death

Source Code (CBS) – drama based on the film about three former federal agents who are part of a top-secret program that uses technology to jump into the consciousness of people involved in tragic events

Spectre, The (Fox) – drama based on the DC comics hero, a former cop serving time in afterlife limbo who hunts down earthly criminals on behalf of the dead – and mortals soon to be dead if ultimate justice is not served

Spellbinder (MTV) – drama about a teenage girl who can communicate with ghosts

Spirited (ABC) – drama about a recently divorced mother of two whose life is forever changed through her unexpected relationship with Henry Mallet, the ghost of an ’80s English punk rock star

Stranger Planet (Fox) – drama about a hard-boiled L.A. cop who stumbles upon the existence of aliens living among us and must team up with two aliens in order to solve intergalactic mysteries on earth

Thunderstuck (AMC) – sci-fi drama about the residents of Great Falls, Montana who must grapple with the dramatic effects and growing mystery of repeated visitations by powerful and enigmatic entities that begin appearing all over the world

Time Trumpet (Comedy Central) – A satirical look at pop culture and current events, set 30 years in the future

Under the Dome (Showtime) – drama based on stephen king’s novel about locals at a maine vacation spot who battle one another when a force field suddenly surrounds their town and cuts them off from the rest of the world

Untitled Fazekas & Butters Project (CW) – drama about a young woman who, on the first day of her new job, discovers that the cosmetics company for which she is working is actually a cover business for a secret governmental project that monitors alien activity on earth

Untitled Jeff Rake Drama Project (CBS) – drama about a female detective who finds she can interact with dead people – the victims of murders she investigates

Untitled M Scott Veach Project (ABC) – no details are available other than it is a time-travel drama

Untitled Robert Hewitt Wolfe Project (Syfy) – After decades of war, the newly formed Unity Democracy orders a volatile mix of humans and trans-humans to lead the Starship Defender on an expedition in search of lost worlds requiring law and order.

Untitled Warehouse 13 Spin-Off Project (Syfy) – spin-off of the syfy hit centering on the character of h.g. wells and her adventures in a 1890s steampunk environment

Untitled Will Gluck Project (ABC) – single-camera comedy about an angel expelled from heaven who is sentenced to live in New York City

Wasteland (TNT) – drama about a U.S. marshal in the american southwest who is charged with hunting down the supernatural escapees on the run following a federal prison break

Watchers, The (ABC) – drama about a fallen angel looking for his mortal love

Wicked Good (ABC) – drama about a family of witches – soldiers in an eternal battle between good and evil – who are dispatched to suburban orange county, where they must root out dark forces while battling the challenges of everyday life in suburbia

Zero Hour (Fox) – drama about a skeptical everyman who gets swept up in one of history’s greatest conspiracies: a spectacular mystery surrounding the Twelve Apostles

Zombieland (Fox) – small screen take on the 2009 feature of the same name